The nxtAIM Open Project Day, held on 25 February 2026 at the University of Freiburg, brought together project partners, experts from academia and industry, as well as representatives of the funding body. The event offered a platform to share the consortium’s latest progress. With around 120 participants, it sparked lively conversations with nxtAIM specialists and provided an in‑depth look at current research directions and project results. The programme featured highlight presentations showcasing the consortium’s newest achievements, deep‑dive sessions with engaging discussions, and a poster exhibition that fostered exchange between research and industry.

Key topics and project highlights

A major focus of the project is pushing the boundaries of generative AI. Instead of learning functions directly from data, the nxtAIM consortium models the data itself. This approach forms the basis for versatile foundation models and paves the way for flexible AI architectures tailored to automated driving. In 2025, nxtAIM achieved several milestones in training infrastructure, data strategy, and collaborative development – all crucial for the project’s technological progress. Among them: securing computing resources on JUPITER, Europe’s first exascale supercomputer, enabling the development of large‑scale models.

The required datasets are provided through a framework established within nxtAIM that allows GDPR‑compliant use of proprietary data from multiple partners. Together, these advances create a solid foundation for coordinated data management, shared development workflows, and the training of generative models designed specifically for automated driving. These methodological contributions align with Europe’s ambitions for federated training and open, cross‑industry collaboration – principles already deeply embedded in nxtAIM.

EICT’s role

EICT supports the project and its consortium partners reliably and expertly on many fronts. The Open Project Day was conceived, planned, and executed down to the last detail by EICT: providing poster templates, reviewing and editing submissions, preparing everything for print, setting up the venue, ensuring and managing all technical equipment on site, and documenting the entire event through photos and video. And not to forget: making sure participants were well taken care of throughout the day. With three team members on site, guests always had someone to turn to.

Picture: nxtAIM/EICT